Auburn Gymnastics got a big season-opening win at North Carolina this past weekend in a three-team meet. The Lady Tigers opened up the 2022 season with a 196.250 victory against North Carolina and Bowling Green, at the North Carolina Tri Meet. Bowling Green ended up in third place with a score of192.600.
It was the highest marks for Auburn marks under Coach Jeff Graba’s tenure with Auburn, and the second highest marks to start the season for the Tigers.
That's a WIN for the Tigers!#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/4lzfA6Ghis
— Auburn Gymnastics (@AuburnGym) January 8, 2022
Here’s what head coach Graba had to say about his team’s win:
"“It was an exciting meet. We were just happy to compete, and the goal was to be tough and finish. I thought this team handles it really well. We’re a powerful and aggressive team with depth. Some of our depth struggled tonight because they haven’t had the experience, but we learned that we could trust anybody that we put in.”"
Derrian Gobourne won the floor title with a score of 9.875. Super star and Olympian Suni Lee got second place on balance beam with a 9.875, not a bad start to the 2022 campaign for the most watchful athlete in college gymnastics.
Gobourne and freshman Sara Hubbard finished second on vault with another 9.875. Junior Cassie Stevens competed in the all around competition and pulled out second place with a score of 39.125.
There may have been some mishaps, but no first time out is ever perfect. All in all, Coach Graba is very happy with his squads performance.
Senior Drew Waston won the vault title in the fourth rotation earning herself an impressive 9.95. All six gymnastics in the vault rotation scored a 9.8 or higher, which helped the Tigers go on to take the victory back home to Auburn.
The bars was the least impressive event, but Gobourne led the way finishing third in the event with 9.825. Junior Aria Brusch finished with a 9.8. The beam was of course highlighted by none other than Suni Lee. In Floor Gobourne once again was the star bringing in that 9.875. The final was Auburn 196.250 to North Carolina’s 195.700.
Auburn gymnastics will flip into Southeastern Conference play on Jan 14th. Arkansas will host the Auburn Tigers at 7:30 on the SEC Network. The Razorbacks are coming off a big win just narrowly beating Ohio State on Jan. 7th.
We will get to see Emma Kelley, the daughter of Mary Lou Retton, Olympic Champion matchup with current Olympic Champion Suni Lee in Fayetteville. Hopefully the little experience they had against the Tar Heels can give head coach Graba and Auburn Gymnastics some confidence as they open up the SEC season.